Kaiser joins hospitals promising healthier food for patients, staff

Kaiser Permanente will join 17 other hospital systems across the country to give hospital food—the stuff that arrives on trays, is sold in vending machines and offered in cafeterias—a nutritional make-over aimed at fighting obesity and putting their stomachs, well, where their mouths are. Kaiser Permanente, which operates 37 hospitals across California, Hawaii and the Pacific Northwest, will join other hospital systems in throwing out their deep-fryers, stocking their vending machines almost exclusively with low-calorie drinks and healthier snack foods, and devising new "wellness meals" that could replace overcooked green beans, colored gelatin and white-bread sandwiches with fresh fruit and vegetables and whole-grain offerings.